(Photo opposite: Kenji Chida) After having lived and worked outside my country of birth for several years I felt it might be useful to continue my education in some form or another. When I first left the U.S. back in 1998, the idea of distance education was not far from filling out the back of a matchbook but by the early 2000’s even Oxford University offered a distance learning degree. I wanted to pursue a second Master’s degree and looked for affordable programs around the world. It turned out that “affordable” meant that Europe, North America and Australia were out. So I focused my attention on Asia. I wanted a respectable program where I could take courses in English and the obvious choice was the Philippines. I was familiar with the country and the quality of graduates it produces from various fields who fill positions around the world. I decided on the University of the Philippines because it is the nation’s flagship institution and has produced world class graduates. I requested an application for UPOU (University of the Philippines Open University). The concept of an open university began in the U.K. and aims to provide flexible study opportunities for students who would have difficulty studying under more formal circumstances.

After several weeks I was accepted upon a review of my credentials and began a course of study in education that would last three years. Tuition was about $1000 per course and I took seven in all. Most of the courses required that I hand in papers by mail or over the internet. I found myself traveling to Osaka to take final exams with a UPOU representative. As I got close to graduation the procedure for completing the program became vague and turned into “Philippine time”. The courses were good but it was not easy to graduate because of an elusive schedule. One requirement for graduation was a comprehensive exam which I could not arrange to take in Japan so I returned to the Philippines for the first time in seven years. I took the four hour exam at UPOU’s learning center in Cebu so I could stay with my wife’s family. Wow, had Cebu changed! It was even more like Hong Kong than it had been when I first arrived there in 1997. There was a new highway overpass that gave you a high speed birds-eye view of the city that did not exist ten years earlier. Just being there, I realized that distance learning is a good alternative to traditional education for those who want to advance their careers but having the chance to visit the institution and interact with it adds to the experience.

I decided to continue my studies to the doctoral level and looked for another institution. I came across The Open University of Hong Kong. Partially funded by the government, OUHK is a respected university with international relationships with other educational institutions. I went through the selection process and was offered a place in the Ed.D program. Unlike the University of the Philippines, distance students have to go to Hong Kong once a year for exams and thesis defense if at that stage. If you are from a major city in the world Hong Kong just makes sense. It has everything you need and is not so expensive. The English level is good but not as good as I thought it would be. It seems you can’t get around learning some of the native language of the country you are in.

My first exam trip to Hong Kong had me economizing by staying in a Chung King Mansion and being really uncomfortable. I had to wait in line at the elevator to get to my room. My second trip’s memorable moment was trying to find out where my exam was and ending up taking a taxi to a high school in the New Territories. I was late but completed a surreal exam in a high school gymnasium that could have been in any country, but happened to be somewhere in Hong Kong’s New Territories. That’s when I realized that distance education is still about people and places, those on the other side of the e-mails and the letters.